April 2009 Volume 39 No 4 Presid ent President: Greg Rankin Editor: John Bushmanember COUNTY COURIER

Transcription

1 April 2009 Volume 39 No 4 Presid ent President: Greg Rankin Editor: John Bushmanember COUNTY COURIER Official Publication of the Orange County Historical Society Speaker of the Month Famed Golden Bear Recalled Our speaker at the April Orange County Historical Society General Meeting is Robert Carvounas. He has published a book on the famous Huntington Beach restaurant and night club, the Golden Bear. The April 9th (Thursday) meeting will be held at the Trinity Episcopal Church, located at 2400 N. Canal St. in the city of Orange, at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Carvounas book is called, A History of the Golden Bear, Huntington Beach. He is a lifelong Orange County resident, works as a sound engineer for KOCE-TV, and also is a guitarist. His discourse will cover the history of the Golden Bear from its humble beginnings in 1923 as a Main Street café, to its move to Ocean Avenue (now Pacific Coast Highway) in 1929, and finally to its ill-fated closure in Where the Buffalo Roamed By Tom Pulley Believe-it-or-not but Corona Del Mar was once home to seventy-two of the one-time monarchs of the plains. In October 1954 Gene Clark of Independence Kansas leased 115 acres on the northeast corner of MacArthur Blvd. and Ford Road, adjacent to the 1953 National Boy Scout Jamboree, from the Irvine Ranch, and established the Newport Harbor Buffalo Ranch. Clark shipped the 72 buffaloes to Orange County from his Independence ranch where he had the world s largest privately owned herd of bison. The bison arrived in Orange County on Saturday November 21, The event was witnessed by hundreds of spectators. The following day, Sunday November 22nd, Clark opened the drive through a portion of the Buffalo Ranch to the public. Over the five years that the ranch operated the buffalo herd increased to nearly one hundred head. An unfenced, surfaced, road wound through the 115 acre range; over rolling hills, down the sides of ravines and across level acres where the buffalo grazed in a set- Continued on page 3 As part of Mr. Carvounas presentation, he will provide historic photos of the club dating to the 1920s, as well as display some original Golden Bear memorabilia and artifacts. Please try to join us for his reminiscing on April 9th, the second Thursday, at 7:30 p.m. at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Orange.

2 Page 2 COUNTY COURIER April 2009 We Get Letters... Editor s Note: The OCHS frequently gets inquiries about historical facts, figures, and sites that people are interested in, remember or want verified. Those go to Ken Leavens our Historian. He researches the subject and then replies. Here is one interesting example. Hello: I am looking for information about an old Ranch that used to be on Santiago Canyon Road between Silverado Canyon and Modjeska Canyon. In the seventies I was fortunate to be able to board my horse there until it was sold for new homes. I took many photos of the old buildings that were still standing. It was a great place and time in my life. I spent many years riding in the mountains, but I never knew its history. I haven t seen the area in over 25 years and have been planning a weekend trip to visit my past. Any information about the Ranch would be great! Jill Hello Jill: The ranch belonged to Roy J. Jackson, a banker from Long Beach, who purchased it from the family of J. E. Pleasants in The property is actually in Williams Canyon. J. E. Pleasants was an Orange County pioneer from whom Helena Modjeska, the great Polish actress, purchased her property in what is now Modjeska Canyon. Jackson turned his acquisition into an Arabian horse ranch where he and his wife, Nellie, raised thoroughbred Arabian horses. At some point, Jackson and his wife moved the Arabian horse operation to Valley Center, in San Diego County. I assume that with his death in 1974, Nellie decided to sell the Orange County property. She continued to breed horses in Valley Center until she was 94, running her ranch while in a wheelchair. There still is a stable at Giracci Vineyards and Stables, Jackson Ranch Road, Silverado, CA Currently, there is one last vacant lot (5 acres) for sale at $599,000. Best regards, Ken Leavens, OCHS Historian Answer to last month s Mystery Photo: Passed on by railroad buff Earl Nickles from fellow railroader Cliff Prather: Mystery solved! The photo of the tower that the Orange County Historical Society presented last month will be familiar to long-time members. It was on the cover of the OCHS July-August 1987 newsletter. The official name of the building was the Fullerton Road Tower. It controlled the Union Pacific and Pacific Electric crossing and the gates on Fullerton Road. The tower was closed in Fullerton Road has become Harbor Blvd. Cliff Prather FOR NEW MEMBERS Directions to thetrinity Episcopal Church in the city of Orange. See page 769 of Thomas Bros. Map book. From the north 57 or 55 exit Lincoln Ave. From Lincoln Ave. turn south onto Canal St. continue to the Heim Ave. stop sign, Trinty is the second church on the right. from the corner. From the south 57, exit to the right on Ball, (becomes Taft Ave.) left on N. Glassel, right turn on to Meats Ave. From the south on 55, exit Katella to the left, turn right onto Tustin Ave., left onto Meats Ave.

3 Page 3 COUNTY COURIER Where the Buffalo Roam continued from page 1 ting of natural beauty. Ranch visitors were able to drive their cars through the buffalo range. Several hay bunkers were strategically placed near the road and motorists were able to pass within 10 or 15 feet of the feeding buffalo. At the entrance to the ranch sat an Indian village. Chief of the village was Push Ma Ta Ha of the Cherokee tribe who, clad in colorful buckskins, beaded moccasins and a beautiful war bonnet, was a favorite with visiting children, keeping them entranced with Indian lore while he sat, cross-legged, on buffalo hide robes in his teepee. Apache, Navajo and Nez Perce Indian families also occupied the village and gave demonstrations of native dances and tribal rites. One Indian, Chief Kuthle Geronimo III, claimed to be a grandson of the famous Apache Chief Geronimo. April 2009 PETTING ZOO trying to create one of Orange County s first theme parks, added farm equipment, a miniature train ride, tractor rides, horseback rides, wagon rides, picnic grounds and a petting zoo on the property and sold buffalo burgers from a 34-foot high white silo shaped structure next to the barn building. People either paid $1.00 per carload to drive the winding road through the ranch in a Lion Country Safari type experience or took the tour aboard a restored vintage fire truck. The ranch also served as a location for episodes of the television series Rin-TinTin and numerous commercials. Movie makers filmed White Buffalo there in 1977 and also the made for television remake of the 1930 s film All Quiet on the Western Front in Unfortunately the buffalo only roamed in Orange County for five years. At the end of 1959 the Irvine Company, having more lucrative plans for the prop- CHIEF PUSH MA TA HA In early 1956 Clark announced plans to erect an 11,000 square foot auditorium. The $100,000 building was to be patterned after a traditional hay barn and was designed to accommodate up to 2,000 persons for conferences, entertainment and television shows. The huge barn building was never built but Clark did erect a smaller barn that he leased to Porter s Western Store. The barn also served as a restaurant, trading post and curio store. Clark,

4 Page 4 COUNTY COURIER April 2009 erty, cancelled the Buffalo Ranch lease. Clark closed the ranch in late 1959 and shipped the buffalo back to his ranch in Independence, Kansas. The property then sat vacant for several years. In 1961 William L. Periera, the famous architect, acquired the land lease and occupied the Buffalo Ranch as one of his seven offices nationwide. Pereira renamed the site Urbanas Square and used the former Buffalo Ranch buildings for his office from 1962 to Pereira was a barn enthusiast and, over the years that he leased the property, moved a number of old barns he had collected from all over the country onto the property. He converted the old one-story buffalo burger silo building into a three-story design studio. From the original Buffalo Ranch silo Pereira and his staff produced master plans for the Irvine Ranch, the UC Irvine campus, many of Newport Center s buildings, and the 93,000-acre future city of Irvine. After Pereira died on November 13, 1985, Lange Financial Corporation, a real estate marketing firm, acquired the property in In 1989 William W. Lange, president of the corporation, decided to revive some of the history of Buffalo Ranch at the business complex site and brought in two buffalo from a ranch near San Diego to the yard behind his office. Over the next several years two calves were born, bringing the herd to four. In December 1993 the Irvine Company terminated Lange Financial s month-to-month lease effective March 1, 1994 due partly to a planned realignment of Ford Road which would require relocation of two buildings on the sprawling complex. On February 19 and 20, 1994 a two-day farewell party called The Last Roundup was held on the site featuring western entertainment, pony rides, a petting zoo, balloon rides and photos with the buffaloes. The event culminated in an auction where the last remaining bison were sold. All but two of the fifteen buildings on the Buffalo Ranch were demolished in late On December 1, 1994 the original barn and silo Looking east from MacArthur Blvd. in the 1970s. buildings were jacked up and moved five miles to the Orange County fairgrounds. The buildings were destined for the Centennial Farm where they were to be used to house administrative offices and educational programs. In November 1995 fair officials decided the barn would be too expensive to restore and announced plans to demolish the building. When vintage car collector Dennis Holland of Newport Beach heard about the fair s plans he obtained the building to house his car collection. Over a four month period Holland dismantled the building, board by board, and reassembled it at his home at 2200 Holiday Road on the northwest corner of Irvine Blvd. and Holiday Rd. where the lovingly restored building can be seen today. The silo building still remains at the Centennial Farm on the Orange County fairgrounds. The site of the original Newport Harbor Buffalo Ranch is commemorated by a bronze statue of a buffalo and a plaque located on the northeast corner of Bonita Canyon Dr. and MacArthur Blvd. The plaque reads In 1954, Myford Irvine granted a 115-acre lease to the Newport Harbor Buffalo Ranch for a sightseeing attraction in this location. The Buffalo Ranch provided a glimpse of the colorful days of the Old West with buildings, cowboys, chuckwagons, and Native Americans. The ranch was home to over 100 bison that were overlooked by Chief Kuthle Geronimo III, grandson of the famous Apache chieftain. The original Buffalo Ranch buildings, designed in an authentic western style including a barn and silo were located on this corner.

5 Page 5 COUNTY COURIER BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Greg Rankin 949/ Vice president 714/ Richard Vining Secretary/Web Carolyn Schoff ochsschoff@aol.com Treasurer / Sales 949/ John Sorenson grncv8@peoplepc.com Activities 714/ Jane Norgren Preservatio 714/ Phil Chinn philchinn@roadrunner.com Corresponding/membership 714/ Judy Moore jbmo38ore@netzero.com Editor 714/ John Bushman bushbaseball@sbcglobal.net Historian 714 / Ken Leavens HistoryOC@aol.com Curator 714/ Harriet Friis JJandHJFriis@aol.com Committee: Betsy Vigus Photos 714/ vvigus@pacbell.net Billie Willis 714/ Member at Large 714/ Don Dobmeier Member at Large 714/ J.J. Friis JJandHJFriis@aol.com Publications/Web 714/ Chris Jepsen cjepsen@socal.rr.com This photo came to us labeled apricot harvest. We are looking for an explanation of the equipment, what they are doing and are those really apricots? April 2009 OCHS CALENDAR Board Meeting April 2 at Trinity APRIL 9, 2009 MEETING Trinity Episcopal Church in the city of Orange see map on page 2 7:30 PROGRAM FAMED GOLDEN BEAR RECALLED by Speaker and author Robert Carvounas MEETINGS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC MAY 14 Meeting Eichler homes by Alan Hess

6 Orange County Historical Society P O Box Santa Ana CA NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION US Postage PAID Permit NO 818 Fullerton CA ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED MAIL TO : OCHS c/o JUDY MOORE 1900 W. GLENOAKS, Apt. C, ANAHEIM, Memberships to the Orange County Historical Society make great gifts. Still only $20 CIRCLE ONE NEW MEMBER RENEWAL One Year Membership STUDENT* (WITH ID) $ INDIVIDUAL $ FAMILY (same address) $ SPONSOR $ PATRON $ LIFE $ INSTITUTION* $ CORPORATE* $ *NON-VOTING MEMBER OCHS MEMBERSHIP FORM April 2009 NAME/S ADDRESS CITY STATE, ZIP TELEPHONE e MAIL AMT ENCLOSED $ Please make check payable to OCHS